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Cut That Masterpiece

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 by Alyice

Ann Baldwin is an amazing artist. She is definitely someone I admire when it comes to creating beautiful collage paintings and mixed media art. So when she said not to be afraid to cut up your masterpiece if the composition isn’t just right, I listened.

In fact, I listened so well that the more I pondered my emotions piece, from last week, the more I wondered if it wouldn’t serve the viewer better if I cut it up—into two separate pieces.

At first, I was intimidated by the idea. I was terrified that I’d cut the piece and regret the decision; especially since the piece, as a whole, really reflected my heart’s message. But the more I stared at the couple, the more I realized that they might have been just a bit too small for the composition as a whole. Then I found a beautiful antique looking frame that said, “I belong to that couple and that couple belongs to me”. So I bought it, I cut up the piece, and this is the result.

Keep Creating

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Thanks For Saving The Planet

Monday, April 13th, 2009 by Alyice

Do you recycle, repurpose, or reuse items? I have always been good about donating or sharing small ticket items I no longer wanted instead of sending them to the dumpster and I have found it fun to earn a few bucks by selling larger ticket items via flyers, craigslist.com, and garage sales. But I can’t say I’ve always been good about using such items within my own home.

When I was a young child, most of the stuff we bought came from thrift stores and garage sales. Then when I moved out of my mom’s home and got married, my entire house was nothing more than a showcase of miss-matched used, donated, and garage sale finds. After the first two years, however, I was determined to have “all new stuff”. I didn’t want someone else’s “junk”. I was tired of “hand-me-downs”. I wanted something that was new and fresh and never been used.

If something developed a minor crack or began to show wear-and-tear, it immediately went into the donation or sell pile and something new took its place. I even preferred to buy the cheaper, non-named brand items instead of accepting one more “gently used” item. You might even say that my nose got so far stuck up in the air that people could see my nose hairs—and it was not like we were rich, because we were a far cry from it. In fact, we were a family of three living on a single income—my husband made $12 per hour.

Then about 9 years ago things began to change. I’m not sure if it was the dusty, mildew-smelling thrift stores my friend, Tina, dragged me into—kicking and screaming, I might add—, the fact that the Midwest has a lot of miniature dumps on farm lands and empty lots, the fact that there’s so much talk about “Going Green” and reversing the damages our society of consumerism has caused on the environment, or the fact that I am simply getting older and no longer need to impress others, but I find myself reverting back to the thrifty days of my youth. And it feels good.

In fact, I’ve recently made a game out of looking for ways to reuse and repurpose what’s already been manufactured—even going so far as to visit thrift and antique stores without getting that “grossed out” feeling and without pushing my husband to hurry up and get out of there. Before buying new games and videos, we check out the local used shops; instead of buying new glass for my art jars, I use old food and beverage glass; instead of tossing out packaging supplies, I reuse them when mailing orders or gifts to family members; and just recently I accepted a donation of used wood—complete with battered markings, nails, chips, and fractures—instead of making my husband take me to the lumber yard for that perfect piece of wood.

It hasn’t been easy but when you think about the fact that Americans, alone, produce a minimum of five pounds of trash, per person, in a single day and that less than three percent of that trash actually gets recycled, leaving the rest to be dumped in landfills that do nothing more than pollute our water system, our land, and the air we breathe, one can’t help but wonder what that damage is going to do to future generations—or more importantly, our children and their children.

Studies already prove that our ozone layer is corroding at an alarming rate, that the pollution we put out on a daily basis is not only killing the earth, but every living creature on it, that the earth is suffering from our need to constantly seek out the “next best thing”, and that the human race faces many diseases that could be controlled simply by changing how we produce and consume the things around us.

If you, too, are ready to make a change, you don’t have to “go all out” right away. You can make small changes and work your way up to bigger changes. To learn more about caring for our eco-system, visit these websites:

Give thanks…

Posted in It's Gratitude, Dude! | 2 Comments »

The Emotions Piece

Friday, April 10th, 2009 by Alyice

This month we’re going to create a piece of mixed media art that focuses on a single emotion. This has been a wonderfully difficult challenge to complete because it deals with something we, Americans, all too often find great comfort in ignoring or suppressing—our emotions. We don’t like admitting that our emotions can sometimes get the better of us and we have a hard time believing that something as simple as an emotion can literally change the way we think, the way we act, and the way we feel towards another living soul or a particular situation—let alone how allowing our emotions to show can essentially save a relationship or build a stronger one.

Copyright 2009, Alyice Edrich
A Couple’s Love © Alyice Edrich, 2009
See this piece altered for a much cuter presentation here

The emotion I chose to deal with is love. I chose love because it’s an emotion that I’ve had a hard time trusting. As a young child, it seemed like everyone I loved abandoned me. As an adult, I came to terms with the fact that they left because of their own issues and not because I wasn’t worthy enough to be loved. But that realization didn’t make it any easier to trust in love or to release my fear of abandonment. Thankfully, I’ve been blessed with a wonderful husband who understands that love isn’t easy, that it isn’t always blissful, and that it is definitely worth the fight.

As scary and difficult as it may seem to deal with your emotions, I do hope that you’ll give this challenge a try!

I created my piece by first placing a thin coat of gesso onto the watercolor paper. After it dried, I very quickly, and without much thought, colored the background in red, green, and blue. Once dried, I tore up sheets from an old book and glued them onto the paper to create a tree trunk. Once the trunk dried, I tore up a cream-colored sheet of handmade paper and glued it over the trunk. The barren tree represents our ability to shed away the old—in our case painful memories—and make room for something new and beautiful.

I tore up a large sheet of tissue paper and glued it to the bottom of the paper—in the shape of small hills, then added small hearts for foliage or flowers. The hills represent the constant up and down we experience in love. And the hearts represent two souls uniting as one. I then allowed it to dry overnight. The next day, I added color. Again, I allowed it to dry over night as I pondered my piece and the direction I wanted it to go.

Next, I added doves and bubbles to the sky. The doves represent peace, hope, and resurrection while the bubbles represent all the fears and troubles that float away as we allow love in. Once dried, I added the couple.

Originally, the couple was sketched on paper, colored in with watercolors, and glued to the paper. However, I didn’t care for the way it looked so I built up the couple using molding paste. I let the couple dry for two days before I painted them. The couple represents love in one of the purest forms. I then added the chipboard letters.

Several days later, as I stared at the piece, I realized it needed one last touch—tiny gold particles of glitter. The gold represents both risk and treasures—for love could not succeed without risk and once love is allowed in, it becomes the greatest treasure of all. Once dried, I sprayed a coat of varnish over it, as a sealer.

How you create your Emotions piece is entirely up to you. It can be something as simple as painting an abstract painting using colors that strongly represent that emotion, or it can be as elaborate as creating a scene from your past that brings that emotion to life or an image that offers hope in the midst of life’s storms. The important thing is that you just do it!

Supplies:

A sheet of 124 lb. 15×20 watercolor paper.
Chipboard letters.
Gesso paint, white.
Paints: acrylic, watercolor, oil.
Molding paste: medium weight.
Coarse Turf: green and brown.
Torn paper: old book, journal pages, or scrapped notes.
Acid-free glue: GAC 100, Yes!, Mod Podge Matte, or stick glue.
Spray varnish: non-yellowing, acid-free.
Images: The image can be traced from a stencil or drawn directly onto the base paper or it can be sketched onto a piece of copy paper then glued onto the base paper.
Anything else you can think of to enhance your personal vision.

There are really only 5 steps for creating your Emotions piece.

Decide on an emotion to emulate in your work: anger, courage, confidence, gratefulness, grief, happiness, joy, loneliness, love, peace, remorse, etc.
Write down both sides of that emotion: the positives and the negatives. For instance, love is often a roller coaster of emotions filled with tears of joy and tears of sadness, moments of laughter and moments of anger, etc.
Think about colors that reflect both sides of that emotion. For instance, when it comes to love, red is a powerful and strong color representing affection, passion, two hearts beating as one, and even rage due to the war that sometimes happens when two individuals try to become one. The color green, however, represents growth and adventure as the couple learns to adapt to one another and builds a new life together—but it could also represent envy and jealousy if the couple isn’t careful enough to protect their love.
Now think about why that particular emotion surfaced over all other emotions. Is it because you never dealt with that emotion before? Is it because it signifies an important part of your life—whether good or bad? Is it because it represents how you feel at this very moment? Focus on that thought and develop a scene or abstract that encompasses what you’re feeling.
Create your Emotions piece, then decide if it’s something you’ll hang in your home or office or if it’s something that was meant to be “gifted” to someone else.

Keep Creating

Posted in Art How-Tos | Comments Off

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AlyiceEdrich.com
I'm a freelance writer, mixed media artist, SMVA, and the owner of The Dabbling Mum.

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All material on this blog belongs to Alyice Edrich, unless otherwise noted. No project, artwork, or text may be reproduced or displayed elsewhere without the consent of the creator. That includes making derivative works for resale. Please use project tutorials for personal use and/or gifts only.